Spotlight
The Njeem Affair
Libya’s Gen. Osama Njeem was wanted by the ICC for crimes against humanity he committed at Mitiga Prison, where detainees — many of them migrants — were tortured, raped and extorted. Yet when he was arrested in Turin in 2025, Italy swiftly flew him home. Why?
Policing a New Syria
Thousands of Syrian women signed up for a police force without knowing exactly why they were being recruited. Some were revolutionaries, some widows. One left a 2-month-old at home to train.
The Syrian War Many Wanted but Two Men Refused To Fight
Syria's president and the country's foremost Kurdish militia commander have defied expectations of a major military clash, overcoming years of discord to make peace against the odds.
The House Ratko Mladić Could Not Destroy
Ratko Mladić, the commander in charge of the Srebrenica genocide and architect of the Sarajevo siege, died serving a life sentence. He died a coward, much as his political progeny today still live as cowards. But Bosnia survives, defined not by its suffering but by joy and humor.
The Ideologue Who Shaped Ahmadinejad’s Holocaust Denial
Mohammad Ali Ramin was the intellectual force behind Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Holocaust denial. Their changing relationship sheds light on the former Iranian president’s personality and transformations, and the possibility that he made a secret deal with Israel.
Will Dahlan Take Over Gaza?
Two decades after Hamas ousted Mohammed Dahlan from power in Gaza, the onetime strongman has emerged as a major power broker who triangulates between the UAE, the U.S. and Israel. Some say he could return to Gaza. For those aware of his menacing qualities, the prospect is frightening.
Syrian Torture Survivors Respond to Death Sentences for Assad and Others
Syria's first major trial of deposed regime figures ended in nine death sentences, including for Bashar and Maher al-Assad and Atef Najib, who ran the Political Security branch in Daraa in 2011. Survivors of the Daraa schoolboy arrests testified. Rights groups called the proceedings historic but flawed.